New Mexico police officer suspended after shooting minivan full of children

Three New Mexico State Police officers reacted as a minivan driven by motorist Oriana Farrell pulled away from a chaotic traffic stop that included one officer bashing the van's window with his night stick and another, Elias Montoya, at left, firing three shots as the van drove off. (AP Photo/New Mexico State Police)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. » The New Mexico State Police officer who fired shots at a minivan full of children during a chaotic October traffic stop has been placed on administrative leave, an agency official said on Thursday.

Officer Elias Montoya was placed on paid leave Wednesday pending a disciplinary investigation into the shooting outside the northern New Mexico tourist town of Taos, State Police Chief Pete Kassetas told The Associated Press.

Kassetas called for an internal investigation after video from a police cruiser's dashboard camera taken Oct. 28 drew national attention.

The video showed Montoya shooting at the minivan as a Memphis, Tenn., woman drove away from a chaotic traffic stop that included another officer bashing her van's window with his nightstick. The motorist, 39-year-old Oriana Farrell, had been stopped by state police for speeding and fled twice after arguing with an officer.

Montoya fired three shots at the minivan, which also was carrying Ferrell's five children. Montoya wrote in a police report that he aimed "at the left rear tire in an attempt to immobilize the vehicle."

The footage also showed Farrell disobeying the officer's orders, including driving off after being told to take her keys out of the vehicle.

When Farrell was pulled over a second time, the situation escalated as she pleaded for lenience while refusing the officer's orders to get out of the van. She eventually exits the vehicle but tries to get back in as the officer, identified as Tony DeTavis in police records, tries to restrain her.

The video showed at least two of Farrell's children getting out of the vehicle to confront DeTavis in her defense.

DeTavis bashed out the minivan's front passenger window with his nightstick when Montoya and other officers arrived at the scene.

The mother and her teen son were arrested in front of a hotel after a brief chase. She has since been released on bond. She faces charges of child abuse, fleeing and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia for a pair of marijuana pipes that authorities say were found in the van.

DeTavis wrote in the police report that Montoya "later bought the entire family McDonald's during the booking process." No phone number was listed for Montoya in Taos County.

In a letter to the Taos News, Farrell wrote that she hope the officers involved in the traffic stop would never experience what she and her family did.

"It is my prayer that your families never be made to endure that which mine has, as a result of this terrible situation," she wrote. "May you never be put in a position to protect your children from your 'own kind.'"

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hanoz808wrote:

not obeying the law is ok to her?

on December 5,2013 | 01:45PM

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Cipherwrote:

It's not OK, but does that give the officer the right to fire at the vehicle? There is something called the force continuum :clearly this officer wasn't following it.

on December 5,2013 | 01:59PM

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SteveToowrote:

What a bunch of lolos. He had every right to do what he did.

on December 5,2013 | 01:53PM

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50skanewrote:

What a psycho Bitc_! She places her own children into a deadly terrible situation and then tries to blame the whole thing on the officers... The police probably would have set her bail at the maximum for all charges if she didn't have her kids with her. What they should have done was to set her bail at maximum and then let the Child Protective Agency people take the kids until an evaluation was done on her to make sure was fit to have them..sounds like she is not fit!!

on December 5,2013 | 02:44PM

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MexMewrote:

50skane, I agree with you completely! To let this woman go is to allow others to use children to avoid the law. By the looks of the van, she had tons of luggage that could have contained any sort of contraband and her actions would lead one to believe that she was hiding something.